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José Mourinho's choice of David Luiz in Chelsea midfield has mixed results

by Michael Cox 3 years ago

The manager went back on recent formation pronouncements by not playing the Brazilian in defence against Liverpool

We have become accustomed to taking José Mourinho's pronouncements with a pinch of salt but his team selection over the Christmas period has completely contradicted some of his apparent intentions.

"Am I going to change the style of play?" he rhetorically asked less than three weeks ago. "More defensive players? No. Am I going to play David Luiz in front of the central defenders? No." Yet his strategy for the 0-0 draw at Arsenal involved more defensive players, with Mikel John Obi selected in place of an attacking midfielder, and here Mourinho used the Rafael Benítez approach of deploying David Luiz in midfield.

While Chelsea lack depth in the central-midfield positions, Mourinho had other options. David Luiz was not a last resort – Mourinho actively selected him ahead of Michael Essien and Mikel, although the Nigerian had already played 180 minutes this week.

The experiment had mixed results. Usually a centre-back playing in central midfield brings great positional discipline to the role but David Luiz is an unorthodox player fond of sudden forward charges, when closing down opponents and when his side is on the attack.

On paper, it seemed David Luiz would assist John Terry and Gary Cahill, allowing the centre-backs to remain in position when Luis Suárez drifted into pockets of space between the lines. Mourinho used a similar approach in his Real Madrid days against Barcelona, often deploying the centre-back Pepe in midfield, with instructions to pick up Lionel Messi. On current form Suárez is a comparable threat. However, David Luiz was more energetic and proactive. His role was more similar to that of Ramires than Mikel, as he often found himself in advance of his midfield colleague Frank Lampard.

He did a decent job of dictating the game in the first period, helping Chelsea to establish control after a nervous period in which they had fallen behind. By half-time he was the game's most prolific distributor, completing 31 of his 34 passes.

Defensively, his job was stopping Jordan Henderson rather than Suárez, which involved pushing high up the pitch and getting tight to the Liverpool midfielder. Henderson has been Liverpool's second-most impressive performer in recent weeks, aiding Suárez with penetrative forward runs and incisive passes. Neither was obvious here and therefore David Luiz deserves credit for shackling his opponent.

The Brazilian left too much space behind him, though, and the booking he collected for a blatant shirt pull on Joe Allen summed up this weakness perfectly. Brendan Rodgers will be disappointed that Philippe Coutinho, who drifted inside from the left flank, did not take advantage of his space more decisively. Mikel's half-time introduction, because of Lampard's thigh injury, gave Terry and Cahill much-needed protection. David Luiz might be an unconventional centre-back but he is more of a centre-back than a central midfielder.